1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an optical pickup supporting device for moving an optical pickup device, which is configured to perform a reading operation and a recording operation on an optical disc, in a predetermined direction, and an optical disc apparatus including the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Optical disc apparatuses are widely used each capable of performing a signal reading operation and a signal recording operation by projecting laser light emitted from the optical pickup device on a signal recording surface of the optical disc.
In general, widely-used optical disc apparatuses are of a type using optical discs which are termed as compact discs (CDs) and digital versatile discs (DVDs). Recently, optical disc apparatuses of a type have been developed which uses optical discs in compliance with the Blu-ray standard having much higher recording density.
An optical pickup device installed in an optical disc apparatus is configured to be moved in a radial direction of an optical disc by a rotational driving force of a pickup feeding motor. In addition, such an optical pickup device is required to accurately read signals which are recorded in the optical disc. To this end, the optical pickup device is required to precisely carry out its own moving operation in the radial direction of the optical disc. For this reason, the optical pickup device is generally constructed in a way that its moving operation is guided by a pair of guide shafts fixed to a fixation board. (This technology is described in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. Hei 11-66767.)
Furthermore, the positions of the respective guide shafts are held by a frame-shaped chassis (this technology is described in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2003-208767). Specifically, referring to FIG. 1A of Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2003-208767, the two near-end portions of each of the two guide shafts are fixed to a chassis 11 while adjusted to their respective predetermined positions by use of fastening means such as screw mechanisms. Because the guide shafts are attached to the chassis with the fine adjustment applied to the guide shafts by use of the screws, the optical pickup device is capable of performing the reading operation and the recording operation accurately.
Moreover, a running plane including the two shafts for guiding the movement of the optical pickup device needs to be adjusted to be parallel to an information recording layer of the optical disc for the purpose of making the optical pickup device perform the reading operation and the writing operation stably. Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2006-172516 discloses that the positions of the guide shafts are adjusted by adjusting the screws, which are inserted in the respective screw holes provided in the chassis, by their rotation.